Taking My Pulled Pork to a New Level

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s2k9k

AMNPS Test Group
Original poster
Sep 8, 2011
11,324
182
SEUSA
First let me say, this thread isn't about anything I did but is about what I have learned here at SMF. It's about all the talented people here sharing their ideas, methods, techniques and recipes so that we can take what we want and use it to improve our own talents!

This started after I read these 2 threads written by Eric (forluvofsmoke):

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...n-gourmet-w-dry-smoke-chamber-q-view-finished

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...rimmed-butt-w-wet-to-dry-smoke-chamber-q-view

I knew I wanted to try his method of a dry smoke chamber to try and achieve moister pulled pork with more bark. I am nowhere near the level he is at. The way he documents everything, his attention to detail and his scientific approach amaze me. Reading his threads really make me want to try his techniques and methods.

Also last week Chef JimmyJ was working with me to try and come up with some recipes that I would like after I posted a thread about some ribs and that I just can’t get the flavor profile I’m looking for. I was very excited with what he came up with and wanted to try it right away.

A local grocer had pork picnics on sale last week for $0.79/LB. I’ve never smoked a picnic before and wasn’t sure if it would work with what I wanted to do, so again I turned to SMF for help. After a quick search I found this thread and it answered all my questions and let me know a picnic would work just fine!

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/49602/need-help-with-a-pork-picnic-shoulder

I bought two 9LB’ers and trimmed all the rind and fat that I could get off of them, remember Eric’s thread, “lean trimmed butt”. After trimming they were kind of falling apart and I felt they wouldn’t cook evenly so I tied them up tight with some butchers string so they would stay together as a big mass. I rinsed and dried them then rubbed with JJ’s rub recipe he gave me. I wrapped them up tight in plastic wrap and put them to bed in the fridge for a day.

Friday night I took them out while I got the GOSM set up and ready. I loaded up my AMNPS with its first full load and got it burning then fired up the smoker to get it to temp. I took a 9X13 foil pan and placed it right on top of my sand pan then poured in I QT of hot water. At about 8:15 it got to about 230* so I put the AMNPS in my RFB (rear fire box) and closed it up and slipped the picnics in and shut the door. The temps fluctuated quite a bit the first hour or so as they always do when I have a lot in there but then they settled down and stayed right around 230*. I didn’t touch it for 3 ½ hours just checked that I was getting smoke and the TBS was just barely coming out the top vent but just walking onto my patio I could smell the sweet smell of  those Pitmaster Choice pellets in the air!

It’s going on midnight and I want to go to bed so I dump the water out of the pan to give it a dry chamber for the rest of the smoke. I check the AMNPS and it was just starting to make its first turn and still giving good TBS out of the vent. The temp in the smoker was holding steady at 230* and the IT had made it to 142 so I felt confident to go to bed and just let it do its thing!

Ok so I slept a little later than I had planned and got up at 8:30 to find the smoker temp at 237* and the IT at 161. That made me feel real good, I always worry about temp fluctuations but I think it held steady and I finally got this thing working just right for me! I checked the AMNPS and it was all burned so I feel confident that I got at least 10 hours from it and the RFB worked like a charm. No need to open the door everything seems to be going good.

I was planning on smoking some chuckies and making smoked pot roast so I started getting that ready, I’ll post that in another thread and add the link when I get it done. At 10:00 I put the chuckies in and that was the first time I opened the door since about midnight the night before. I also reloaded the AMNPS about halfway and fired it up so the chuckies would get some smoke. The picnics were looking very nice at this time. They had a nice dry skin and were getting that great mahogany color. I should have taken a pic then but I didn’t want the door open longer than it had to be. They were still holding an IT of about 161* and continued for about 2 more hours before they started to slowly climb up.

At about 2:00 I put in a big pan of veggies and beef broth for my pot roast on the bottom rack so they could get some drippings from the chuckies. I don’t know if adding a liquid at this time really had any effect on the pork since it had already skinned over or not. I only left the pan in uncovered for an hour then I put the chuckies in the pan and covered it in foil and moved it to the middle rack and moved the pork to the bottom rack. This might have been a mistake but I’m still analyzing this.

Here they are before I moved the rack:

e8a4127a_102_0804.jpg


I pulled the pan out about 5:00 and the picnics were at about 190*, they were climbing very slowly. I probed them a few times and it was like hot butter and the bone wiggled around like it didn’t want to be there anymore so I knew they were close. Another hour and 195*, I was getting impatient now, I had promised my Dad and Sis I would deliver some pot roast and I wanted to pull them to rest while I was gone so out they came. I put them in some pans and just laid a paper towel over them. I didn’t have any racks to elevate them in the pans like Eric did but I don’t think that affected anything.

Right before i took them out:

2e826efb_102_0811.jpg


And in the pans:

bcf0e268_102_0813.jpg


86e5e331_102_0815.jpg


Got back home about 2 hours later and it was time to tear into them. First thing I had to have a taste and it was wonderful! The flavor from JJ’s rub was just what I have been looking for! As I pulled them apart they were they moistest, juiciest pork I had ever pulled, they just fell apart in my hands. They weren’t mushy at all, had a nice texture but were soft and juicy.

The bark on the top and sides was heavy and firm but I could still shred it pretty easily but on the bottom it was like leather, almost burnt. I had to discard most of it. This might have been from me moving them to the bottom rack right above the sand pan but I’m thinking it could have been from all the drippings burning there were a lot of drippings hanging from the rack or maybe the sugar in the rub. I did use Tubinado sugar and not that much. I’m not sure which of these was the cause of it. Please give me some input if you have ever experienced this.

Juicy juicy juicy

fb96abf4_102_0823.jpg


All in all I think this was the best pulled pork I have ever made and I feel like I took it to a new level and this was only possible from all the great people here at SMF! I think the dry smoke chamber really did what Eric posted about and let the pork skin over and lock all the juices inside. I have only done “no foil pork” once before and I left a water pan in the entire smoke. Everything else was close to the same and I did have some juicy pork but I don’t think it matched this in moistness and a great bark.

I want to Thank everyone here for all you have taught me and on this smoke especially JJ for your recipes and Eric for your techniques and methods!
 
First off, you are Welcome. I am always glad to help. The Pork looks great! Out of curiosity how did Dad and Sis like the Spicier Rub? Did you apply any Finishing Sauce? Looks Juicy, it may not have even needed any. Last regarding the Burnt bottom. I have never experienced that in the MES and from your description, I put a lot more Sugar than what you added. My thought would be, moving them down closer to the Heat source caused the Extra Crispy bottom. On future smokes if the bottom is too hard to eat and doesn't have a burnt bitter taste...Save it for Beans! The long moist simmer should bring it back and the flavor it would add is unbeatable...JJ
 
Thanks JJ! Dad and Sis haven't had any of the pork yet, I gave them some pot roast which they really liked but I just used Montreal Steak seasoning on it. They left for Ohio this morning for my nephew's wedding so they will have to wait til they get back to try it. The rub really isn't spicy on the pork just a real good flavor. I made up some of the finishing sauce but it really doesn't need it, it has such great flavor I hate to cover it up. I did try it and I think it is a little to vinegary for me.

Yea I'm thinking it was the heat too but I don't want to leave anything out trying to solve that little problem.
 
To vinegary...No problem. Bump the Sugar 1T at a time until you hit the Balance you like. I like it on the Tart side because the last layer of flavor comes from a Sweet KC style BBQ Sauce I top the pork with. When you reheat some pork another day try your modified version, adding a little at a time. The moisture finishing sauce adds is only a piece of the equation. The other is an additional layer of flavor. Also keep in mind...Acid stimulated the taste buds and aids in cutting the fat so your sense of taste is ready for the burst of flavor coming in the next bite. I would demonstrate this concept to my students by having them eat consecutive tastes of Fatty Duck. By bite three or four the Thrill was gone. Bite five I would have them dip the Duck in Balsamic Vinegar. BAM! Whole new expience and the full flavor of Duck exploding through! See what you think...JJ
 
I will try that! I think if I can get rid of a little of the twang I will probably like it better.
 
Nicely done PP, Dave!!! I see some pretty decent smoke penetration and some glistening moisture weeping from the meat fibers, so, I don't even have to taste it to know that was good eating!

You're welcome for the tips and info...I knew someone would find it beneficial, so I felt inclined to share it with everyone. Glad you got a chance to try the wet/dry chamber game...it does make a difference if used with a little forethought and understanding of the principle. It took me a couple times to really understand what was actually happening, but now it's becoming second-nature to me. Now that you've seen it in action first-hand, you'll be able to make further adjustments to stretch things out to the best balance for your own preferences.

Sounds like you also noticed a difference with moisture retention and bark development like I did, so I feel pretty confident that the relative humidity for your local area won't have a very big effect on the outcome, which is good to know. We routinely have less than 10% R/H in the heat of the summer days, and around ~40-70% overnight by early morning.

Your bottom bark probably did take a bit of a hit from the dry water pan if you got too close. It basically becomes a direct heat source after the thermal mass of the sand or pea gravel gets heated up to a stabilized temperature, so keeping more distance will help with that issue. I was 7" (just went out and measured it again to be sure) above the pan with my butt smoke in my Gourmet charcoal, so that's probably why I didn't notice it. Also, when you rest the meat, if you can get a cheap non-stick baker's rack (that's what I used, with mods) or something similar to support the meat, this will keep it from soaking the bottom crust in it's own drippings and allow it to stay much drier to better preserve the crispness of the bark. Between the higher bottom heat while finishing, and then laying on a flat surface to rest, these both could have had quite an impact on the bark. A leathery texture tells me it got moist while resting, otherwise it would have stayed more crisp, even if it was a very heavy bark. Mine seemed to hold up very well after resting (2nd attempt thread)...a solid mass of bark on all sides, very crisp for the most part. So, if you want that killer bark on all sides, that's your ticket.

Adding a pan with water after going to a dry chamber shouldn't have effected the moisture retention of your pork in this case, as the surface should have been tightened up very well by then, being 8 hours or so afterward going to a dry smoke chamber. It could have softened your bark on the pork a bit, but if the water source was removed quite a while before you hit finished temps, it should have had time to firm-up and set again.

I think to get the best possible result for bark on your pork while smoking the chuckies with the goodies-pan underneath them, if grate spacing would allow, you could go above the picnics with the pan in the second highest grate (this keeps the water vapor above the pork, and should null it's effect on the lower grates), then place the chuckies on the top grate (if chamber/grate temp variances aren't too high at the top level). This would give you a bit more space from the pan with the picnics, hopefully 2 grate spaces above the pan...that would be the best you could hope for wiith the GOSM, having 5 grate positions. My Smoke Vault 24 is a 5-grate position rig as well, very similar in that aspect, other than the SV-24 is wider than the 20" GOSM, but not by much.

Next time around, you'll have it nailed it down, I'm sure. This is probably one of those methods that is easier accomplished when you can dedicate your smoker specifically to one thing, but you gave it a helluva shot right out of the gate...chuckies looked mighty fine, too! Hmm, I just went back and looked again...the chuck on the right of the grate looks like a cross-rib...love 'em, cuz they seem to have a bit more uniform marbling, are even more tender throughout and more flavorful.

Keep on smokin' 'em up, Dave!

Eric
 
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Thanks Eric! 

I'm the kind of guy who likes to know how things work, not just watch them work and this has passed on to smoking. I have become addicted to this and the more I read the more I want to know. That's why I like your threads so much, you go into great detail about what's happening. I've started thinking now that understanding how meat is cooking can really help one cook it better. I used to just throw it in and when it was done eat it and never thought about what was happening in between. Thanks to you and SMF my thought process on this has changed and I am making much better tasting meals!

10% RH? Man i would dry up like a piece of jerky! I need humidity! 

I just looked up what the humidity was here Saturday since that's when the water pan was out (it was in Friday night until about midnight):

Minimum Humidity: 54%

Maximum Humidity: 91%

Average Humidity: 74%

So quite a bit wetter here.

Yea I think moving it to the bottom rack was a mistake and it got to hot.

When I rested it in the pans there was very little liquid in the pan even after 2 hours. I looked for some cooling racks but couldn't find any close to the right size (I was in a hurry) but I'm going to keep looking. I can't ever find what I want when I really want it but then it shows up later when I don't need it.

I'm wondering if flipping the butt over to rest would do anything, or even flipping halfway through the smoke. Just thinking since the juices are running out the bottom would flipping it make the juice run back through to the other (top) side?

I agree this would work better if I dedicated it to one thing but I hate to have a smoker that isn't full! If I'm burning propane for 22 hours I want to cook as much as I can!  I will probably give it a shot though, I want to try and perfect this and I know I can't do that if I have too many things going on at once!

It did come out really good though except for a little wasted bark on the bottom and I know I can overcome that problem! But Oh well, Live, Smoke, Learn!

Thanks again!!!
 
Dave, I never have turned-over my meats when I hot smoke. Maybe it's partly because I don't want grill marks on both sides (just looks nicer to me when it comes out), but I think the main reason I don't flip is because it could disturb the bark and possibly tear it open, especially with larger cuts of meat, and even more so when they are nearing the end of cooking as they will be that much more prone to damage from being so tender inside.

Now, in the case of this particular situation, where you had a hot spot directly underneath in close proximity, and if you had known ahead of time, but could not avoid it, turning the meat over could even out the heating/cooking and create a more evenly developed bark. The possible down-side to flipping it over is that both sides of the bark could have too much exposure to this high temp cooking. I'm not 100% sure on whether or not it could have any effect on the distribution of meat juices to turn it over while cooking.

My standard practice has always been to only flip meats once when grilling...something I read years ago stated that the meat juices are driven away from the heat source during cooking (upwards when grilling, downwards when broiling, inwards ((to a point, until meat shrinkage cause the space the water occupies to become too small)) when indirect cooking). Then, when it rests after cooking, the remaining interior juices are drawn back towards where ever they were driven away from...think of it as an equalization period, with a balanced temperature drop that is rapid enough to stop further cooking (so we don't have mushy texture with high finished temps), but slow enough to allow the juices to equalize resulting in the optimum finished product. Some juices will be lost to evaporation and drippings, of course. If flipping a large cut would effect the moisture retention or not is where I'm at a loss, though if the cut of meat where damaged during turning over, that would be the most likely place you would see additional loss of juices.

IMHO, the less you handle meats when cooking, the better, and I try to be a s gentle as possible when I do handle cooked meats...I went through the trouble of producing my masterpiece, so, I want to protect it, also. With less handling comes less loss of seasonings on the grates, less damage to the meat's surface, less damage to the interior meat fibers causing tearing, which could translate to minor (probably unnoticeable, unless an extreme case) changes in finished texture, but could also result in more loss of moisture.

Just some thoughts for you to further ponder...

I got interrupted for several hours while writing this, so I hope it makes sense...LOL!!!

Eric
 
Hey Dave that looks awesome and you seem to be really close to having it perfect. Congrats on a great looking smoke 
 
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